Artist in Residence

We are delighted to have Melanie Wright as Artist in Residence at The British Racing School.

The residency project will allow her to spend part of each month,  in Newmarket, based at The BRS,  painting a range of subjects from this historic centre of flat racing. It starts this month and will continue over the next 16 months, culminating in an exhibition towards the end of 2019.

Melanie said “It presents a wonderful opportunity for me to explore artistically, the many visually interesting aspects of the flat racing world and focus on building a body of artwork that will encapsulate my experience there. The scale and concentration of the horse racing business in the town is awesome, with over 60 resident trainers and over 6000 horses in training.  I shall be spoilt for choice and the challenge is more going to be choosing the locations and subjects from such a large pool of inspiration!”

Keep up to date with Melanie’s work by reading her Blog posts below.

 

Upcoming events…

 

THE EXHIBITION IN MAY 2020 

 

The paintings, drawings and sketches from the two year residency at Newmarket will be featured in a large solo exhibition  of my equestrian paintings booked in Spring, 2020. I look forward to seeing my works displayed together as a whole project and to welcoming you at the private view.  Date for the PV evening  to be confirmed. And invitations will be sent out in due course.

 

Gallery venue: 

D Contemporary

23 Grafton St

Mayfair

London W1S 4EY

 

Exhibition Dates:

May 21st to June 4th.

Monday to Saturday 11am  – 5pm.

 

Details on the gallery website.

 

Artists Blog

Autumn/winter 2019

The final few months of the residency found me focusing on visiting some iconic places around Newmarket before the winter. So my last visit was timed to coincide with the Book One Sales at Tattersalls and also to take a long overdue tour of The National Stud.   Tattersalls: Autumn Sales   This is such […]


Summer 2019

July 11th:  BHA Dinner at the BRS   A group of six framed paintings, completed during the residency, were displayed In the theatre foyer at The BRS , for the evening of the Annual BHA dinner. Great to have this opportunity to show them in Newmarket, and receive  positive feedback,  before they go on to […]


April & May 2019

Pegasus Stables ( James Fanshawe) I spent a most enjoyable couple of mornings sketching at James Fanshawe’s yard, Pegasus Stables. With a very friendly welcome there from the Fanshawes and assistant, Janet. A great opportunity to sketch these iconic Newmarket Stables which were built by the legendary Victorian jockey, Fred Archer. This is historic stable […]


April 2018

I am delighted to have been invited to be Artist in Residence at Newmarket, by The British Racing School. The residency project will allow me to spend part of each month,  in Newmarket, based at The BRS,  painting a range of subjects  from this historic centre of flat racing. It starts this month, and will […]


My visit to Newmarket (May 2018)

Once again,  blessed with brilliant weather,  I had a great schedule arranged for this visit! Which saw me meeting Sir Mark Prescott, at Heath House, for the first time, an unforgettable experience, followed by an evening of fine racing at The Rowley Mile, for the Spring Meeting. And finally a chance to see the mares […]


MY visit to Newmarket in June 2018

The BRS invited me to run an Equine drawing workshop as part of their staff training week in June. So on this visit I enjoyed a fun time, mainly at the School, meeting more of their dedicated and hardworking team and enjoying their company at a staff barbeque,  in the newly designed courtyard, at the […]


My visit to Newmarket in July: Moët et Chandon July Festival

It was such a pleasure to be attending the Moët et Chandon festival at The July Course. The Course itself and the beautiful tree lined pre parade ring provides such a pretty setting for the racing and the crowds. With period style buildings with thatched roofs and the charm of the weighing in room building/winners […]


Autumn / Winter 2018

My visit in September was to spend more time at the BRS itself and with a pretty full on schedule. I have an idea on the go of painting a large scale picture, the overall composition containing a group of watercolour vignette studies of scenes at The British Racing School. So I wanted to gather […]


Artist in Residence blog – Melanie Wright, March 2019

My first visit for the second year of the artist residency, and after the excitement of the Cheltenham Festival, and the return of longer daylight hours, it was great to be back and refocusing on Newmarket.  On arrival I was delighted to learn that since my last visit, The BRS have been awarded the ‘Outstanding’ […]


For more information please contact the School on 01638 665103 or email events@brs.org.uk